M-Payment as Financial Inclusion Strategy in Islamic Boarding School Cooperatives

Abstract

Financial inclusion refers to the use of financial services such as electronic money. Digital money receives tremendous attention globally, from buyers to sellers, as an alternative form of payment. The passions on this technology enormous and infectious, therefore attracting more followers from large merchant to smaller one including the cooperative. School cooperative serves as a center of economic with a wide range of activities, such as mini market, canteen, to serve the needs of students, teachers, and people in the surrounding area. One of the programs launched by the Central Bank of Indonesia is a financial inclusion to increase the financial literacy of people living in the remote area. In this case, Islamic conventional boarding school cooperative can become influencers in most of the surrounding community to attract people’s interest to adopt the technology. The purpose of this inquiry is to find out factors influencing the adoption of mobile payment and user’s intention and decision to adopt m-payment. Authors proposed an innovative research model based on the theory of technology acceptance model with the innovation characteristics of the diffusion of innovations, perceived security and intention to recommend the technology. The research model has empirically tested at 205 employees Islamic boarding schools across four regions. The independent variables under study include perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived credibility, subjective norms, and trust while the dependent variables are mobile payment adoption and intention to recommend the technology. The study uses structural equation modeling as a tool for analysis. The result indicated that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and subjective norms have a significant influence on the adoption of mobile payment. The study also confirmed the relevance of users’ intention to recommend mobile payment technology. Thus, future research needs to include social media campaigns and technology adoption studies. For researchers, the result of this study act as a basis for further refinement of personal technology acceptance model. For practitioners, understanding the key constructs is crucial to design, refine, and implement mobile payment services, applications, and products that achieve high consumer acceptance, value, and high rates of positive recommendations in social networks.